The
symbolism and esoteric significance of the Holy Grail is rooted in Christian
mythology but has become inseparable from Celtic mysticism.

The
Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or
cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers. The
quest for the Grail is also synthesised with the search for spitual development
and self realisation

The
Holy Grail is also referred in various traditions as;

The Grail

The Holy
Chalice

The Cauldron

Sangrail / Sangreal / Sang-real

The Cup of the
Last Supper

The Cup of the
Crucifixtion

The
connection of Joseph of Arimathea with the Grail legend dates from Robert de
Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives
the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great
Britain.

This
story formed the basis for further embellishement and building upon this theme
later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ's blood while
interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it
safe. The quest for the Holy Grail makes up an important segment of the
Arthurian cycle.

The
legend may combine Esoteric Christian Mysticism with a Celtic myth of a
cauldron endowed with special powers.

In the poems 'The Spoils of Annwn' accredited to the Welsh bard 'Taliesin' of the
sixth-century is a description of a sacred vessel that is sought in the Annwn, the Underworld, by a group of learned mystics, believed
to be a vessel akin to the symbolism of the Grail.

The
development of the Grail legend has been traced in detail by cultural
historians: It is a legend which first came together in the form of written
romances, deriving perhaps from some pre-Christian mythological hints, in the
later 12th and early 13th centuries. The early Grail romances centered on
Percival and were woven into general Arthurian legend.